We have are returned from a six-day trip to Southern California, a trip to escape some of the smokiest air I have had to live in. In the past week, our little area of the Sequoia National Forest has seen four small fires. We also have on-going smoke from the Clover Fire to the east in the high Sierra. The first fire was just 2 miles away and inspired our departure. Another struck while we were gone. The third and fourth fires hit as we were returning home. ( The fourth was actually itty-bitty and for those who follow milk shenanigans on this website might find it interesting trivia that the fourth fire was on the property where the Vander Eyk heifers graze in the winter.)
The trip was a great escape for me. Before this trip, I had only left the forest on three one-day trips. I was stir crazy (but without a lot of energy). As it turned out, I spent my days in Southern California much like I do here: resting and doing data analysis. I did manage one movie and one trip to the outlet mall because that's what I hear city people do. I also needed shoes. Who knew shoes could cause a mid-life crisis. Read on for fire and shoe pictures.
The outlet mall was in Carlsbad and the outlet store was Merrell. I was actually replacing a wonderful pair of green suede Merrell shoes and thought that the Merrell outlet would be the perfect place to look. My constraint is that I wear a custom orthotic that must fit inside issue. The shoe must have heel support and must be wide enough for the orthotic. What I discovered was that not only did my foot not fit a Merrell shoe with my orthotic, but not a single Merrell shoe fit my foot. To make matters worse, I was exhausted, I was wearing my garden shoes, and most certainly did not look my most presentable. the sales rep said, "Are you finding everything okay, young lady?" Just to be clear, she was not fooled that I was actually a young lady. In fact, this was the first time in my life that anybody has felt the need to help me feel better about myself by giving me such an obvious false compliment. It did not help matters that I ended up with a pair of frumpy black sneakers. They are Rockport, so they are serving me well in the comfort department, but they will likely only add to future false compliments. For the curious, the new black shoes are pcitured at left, the garden shoes in the middle, and the sole-worn Merrells at right.
The shoe excitement was far surpassed in the last 30 minutes of our trip when we happened upon a smoldering grass fire. The land where the Vander Eyk heifers spend their winter was threatened with a small fire on the shoulder of the road. To our surprise, a firefighter told us that the real fire was a mile up the road. Indeed, we could see logs smoldering but the fire was entirely contained by the time we passed. The road has been under construction and it was actually the road crew that spot at the fire initially, called it in, and try to put it out. A member of the road crew said to me, "We would've had the fire out had a gust of wind not come." my husband plans to recommend the crew to the county for some sort of commendation. That fire had huge potential. As it was, and three of the approximately 20 fire engines that responded to the fire got to stay out all night monitoring it. We have since discovered that we missed yet another fire while we were gone.
